Back to the Start
by MellieGrant0710
Summary: A problem arises, and Mellie and Fitz think it's a sign. Can they make it work the second time around? MELLITZ ENDGAME


**Hey everyone! Here's another story! This is Mellitz AU, so don't read it if you don't ship them! Read and review everyone!**

Everyone is on the roller coaster of life. Everyday, they strap themselves in and pray that they can handle whatever twists and turns life decides to throw at them. Mellie was on what felt like a never ending coaster that wouldn't stop long enough for her to catch her breath. No matter how badly she wanted to scream for it all to stop, another turn was ahead or another long drop.

Mellie hasn't always felt this way. She used to be such a happy person. She thought nothing could ever bring her down. Then she met Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III. He definitely turned her life upside down. At first, he made her deliriously happy. She couldn't imagine what her life would've been like had he not ever entered it. That is, until she got raped by his father. Fitz would just scream at her instead of asking her what was wrong. Mellie wasn't one to back down from a fight, but every time Fitz yelled, she just withdrew more and more. By the time she was finally okay again, he had moved on and wanted nothing to do with her. Now they were divorced with a dead son and so much hatred between them that Mellie could even stomach being near him anymore. Mellie had moved on and was engaged to a wonderful man, but her mind kept drifting to Fitz. Mellie sat at her desk thinking of how happy they could've been when Cyrus walked in.

"Cyrus! I didn't think you knew I was alive anymore. What does golden boy need now? My blood on some papers to swear I won't tell the world that he's an evil bastard?"

"I'm afraid there's a situation, and we need you at the White House."

"What kind of situation?"

"I just feel that this should be discussed with the both of you."

"Are the kids alright? Did Karen get in more trouble?"

"The kids are fine. This is about you two."

"Let me grab my bag," Mellie sighed and wondered what could possibly go wrong now.

Mellie and Cyrus walked into the oval to find a very irritated Fitz. He was silently sitting in his chair, red faced and rubbing his finger where his ring used to be.

"Okay, now that you've brought her here, what the hell is going on?" Fitz said through gritted teeth. He hated that Mellie had to be brought to the White House. He didn't admit it to anyone, but he missed having her around to make sure everything was running smoothly. He also kind of missed having her by his side. Her being near him wasn't helping him move on from their marriage. He wasn't with Olivia anymore, and he knew that Mellie was engaged to someone, but that didn't change that he did still love her.

"Well..."

"Spit it out, Cyrus!" Fitz and Mellie yelled at the same time.

"You two aren't divorced."

"WHAT?" Mellie stood up and hurriedly sat back down before her knees gave out.

"Something went wrong with the paper work. I was told it's nowhere to be found, so your divorce didn't happen. You two have still be legally married for the last year."

"Please tell me that this is some cruel joke," Fitz didn't know what to think. He ran his hand through his hair and watched Mellie open and close her mouth, but no words came out.

"I'm about to get married! I can't have this holding up the wedding!" Mellie gasped.

"Mellie, nothing is going to hold up your precious wedding. All we have to do is file again."

"You see, that's the problem. I had your lawyers file again to try and get this to go away quietly, but it was denied."

"Denied?"

"Yes. Apparently something was overlooked, so it didn't comply with court rules and state laws, so you two are back to square one. You're still married, and it appears that you will be until everything can be revisited."

"I'm the damn president of the United States. This can be pushed to the top of everyone's priority list. I want this taken care of as soon as possible!"

"Fitzgerald, we can't just put our lives ahead of everyone else for God's sake," Mellie rolled her eyes and rubbed her temples. He was infuriating.

"Don't talk to me like that."

"Like what?"

"You always talk in that condescending tone to me when you're angry."

"So what do we do now?" Mellie asked Cyrus ignoring Fitz.

"Honestly, for the both of you being lawyers, this should have went off without a hitch. Mellie, didn't you check everything?"

"The first time around, yes. I never saw the papers once you had our lawyers file them again, remember? You just informed us of this."

"I shouldn't have gone around you two. I apologize."

"We just need to know what to do now," Fitz stated impatiently. He was tired of all the dancing around the topic. Part of him was secretly happy to still be married to Mellie, but her death glares were making him want to run as far away as possible.

"We start from scratch. First, a statement is going to need to be made before press catches wind of any of this."

"What do we say? Oh by the way, we're still married because someone majorly fucked up?"

"Not exactly that, but somewhere along those lines, yes."

"This is going to take months! My wedding is in three weeks! I can't get married if I'm still married to who I thought was my ex husband!"

"We're going to move it along as fast as possible, Mellie. Just bare with everyone. For now, I think you should go talk to Henry and tell him that the wedding may need to get pushed back."

"Oh dear God," Mellie said as her voice shook. She put her head in her hands and sighed. She looked up, and her eyes met with Fitz's. She felt a jolt run through her body. Fitz's eyes grew wide like he had felt it too. Mellie shook it off and hurriedly got up. She needed out of there as soon as possible.

"What if we spin it?"

"Fitzgerald, how do we spin this?"

"Move back in. We can say something went wrong, we found out, and we realized that maybe we felt it was a sign that we weren't meant to get divorced."

"I'm engaged, Fitz."

"You don't love him."

"Excuse me?"

"You don't love him. I know what you look like when you love someone, and this isn't it. This is you trying to move on, but maybe we weren't meant to move on."

"I... What?"

"You're not yelling at me, so I know that you know I'm right. Mels, let's try again. Let's start over. We are still married, but let's date again. A clean slate."

Cyrus watched the two in shock. He just stood in silence. He felt like he was intruding, so he silently walked out of the room. Neither of them noticed when he left the room. Mellie's mouth was agape, and Fitz looked hopeful. Cyrus smiled as he walked back to his office. The two of them, no matter what had happened between them, belonged together.

Mellie didn't know what to say to Fitz. He looked so hopeful, and part of Mellie wanted to run to him. The rational part knew they would only be doomed. They clearly screwed everything up the first time. How could they possibly make it work?

"Fitz, I'm engaged. How do I just walk away from that?"

"Please just tell me you'll thinking about it. I miss you, Mel." Mellie knew he was telling the complete truth. She couldn't say anything else, so she nodded and left the oval.

Mellie didn't know how she got to her car and drove back to her office, but she did. She couldn't even remember a thing that she had done the rest of the day. At dinner, Henry was talking about his family flying in excitedly, and Mellie just smiled and nodded.

"Mellie? Where are you right now?"

"Huh?"

"Exactly. You've been in a daze all night," Henry said as he grabbed her wine glass and plate and walked to the kitchen. Mellie followed him and started doing the dishes.

"We need to talk."

"Oh no."

"Fitz and I aren't divorced."

"WHAT?"

"Something got messed up, so our lawyers filed again, and it got denied."

"So you're still married to the President of the United States?"

"Yes."

"So we can push the wedding back while you guys work everything out! I'm sure we can find a way to make it all work."

"Fitz and I were talking today, and he thinks it's a sign that we were meant to work our marriage out," Mellie said hesitantly. She didn't look up from the dishes, but she knew Henry was probably frozen in shock.

"You wouldn't have even brought that up if you weren't thinking about it. What the hell, Mellie?" Mellie turned to him with tears in her eyes. She missed Fitz with her whole being. Henry was so wonderful and caring, but he was not Fitz. She missed the passion and the fire that she had with Fitz. Henry was Fitz's polar opposite.

"I'm so sorry."

"Mel..." Henry said, but began to choke up. "I love you. Don't you love me too?"

"I love you, but I don't think I'm in love with you. I wish I was in love with you. You're so good to me, but for some godforsaken reason, I can't ever love anyone the way I love Fitz."

"You can't help who you love, I suppose. When he breaks you again, don't come back to me. I don't want to be anyone's second choice."

"I wouldn't do that to you. You deserve someone much better than me. Someone that can love you the way you deserve."

"And you deserve someone that will put you first. He's not ever going to do that."

"All I can hope for is that this time will be different."

"People don't really change, but maybe you two can work it out. I wish you both the best," Henry smiled as best as he could, put the plate he was holding down and walked out of the kitchen. Mellie grabbed onto the counter and had to hold one hand to her mouth to muffle her sobs. All she could think in her head was "What the hell did I just do?"

She heard Henry walk out the door a few minutes later, and Mellie slid down to the ground. She needed alcohol. Alcohol would make her forget that she may have just made the biggest mistake of her life. Teddy was with Fitz, so she didn't need to worry about him finding her passed out in the floor.

Mellie woke up confused the next morning. She was in her bed in her pajamas with no recollection of how she got there. She walked downstairs and saw Fitz and Teddy at the table eating breakfast.

"Morning mama!"

"Uh morning baby boy. Fitz? May I have a word in the kitchen?" Fitz nodded and followed her to the kitchen.

"Please tell me what happened."

"You called last night. You were completely drunk, and you told me everything. I didn't want you here alone, so I brought Teddy, put him in bed and kept an eye on you. Don't worry, you dressed yourself. Barely. I assisted a little. Before you protest, we've been married for 21 years now, and you gave birth to my children. I slept on the floor in your room."

"Well thank you for taking care of me."

"You don't have to thank me. So would you like to go to dinner sometime next week?"

"I think that sounds good, yes."

"Wednesday's are usually pretty light, so I'll pick you up at 8. I can take Teddy with me tonight if you want. You can come get him tomorrow, or I can drop him off."

"That works for me!"

"Okay good. I should get back to the White House. Teddy come say goodbye to mom!"

"Goodbye, mama! I love you bunches and bunches!"

"I love you bunches and bunches, sweetheart," Mellie followed them to the door and out of habit, turned her cheek to Fitz, and he kissed her goodbye. Mellie shut the door and smiled after she realized how easily they both fell into old routines. Mellie didn't know it, but Fitz was smiling equally as big and thinking the same thing she was.


End file.
